Bena
Bena was given to 7 girls in 2025, #12,109 among girls’ names; 642 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Bena by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Bena?
#12,109 among girls’ names, 2025
Bena rose from #14,788 in 2015 to #12,109 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 3.4 to 4.4 per million.
16 babies in 1918, the peak
Bena peaked in 1918, when 16 girls were given it, #2,209 among girls’ names. The 7 births of 2025 are 44% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #12,109 | 4.4 |
| 2023 | 10 | #9,718 | 6.2 |
| 2022 | 5 | #15,679 | 3.0 |
| 2020 | 5 | #15,490 | 3.1 |
| 2019 | 8 | #11,527 | 4.8 |
| 2018 | 7 | #12,692 | 4.1 |
| 2015 | 6 | #14,788 | 3.4 |
| 2014 | 5 | #16,960 | 2.8 |
| 2012 | 7 | #13,717 | 4.0 |
| 2010 | 5 | #17,422 | 2.8 |
Every recorded year (93)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 7 | #13,916 | 3.8 |
| 2007 | 6 | #15,775 | 3.1 |
| 2006 | 7 | #13,799 | 3.7 |
| 2003 | 7 | #12,596 | 3.8 |
| 2000 | 6 | #13,379 | 3.3 |
| 1998 | 6 | #12,647 | 3.4 |
| 1993 | 5 | #13,688 | 2.8 |
| 1992 | 5 | #13,514 | 2.7 |
| 1990 | 7 | #10,312 | 3.7 |
| 1988 | 8 | #8,468 | 4.5 |
| 1986 | 5 | #11,072 | 2.9 |
| 1983 | 7 | #8,124 | 4.2 |
| 1982 | 5 | #10,653 | 3.0 |
| 1981 | 5 | #10,572 | 3.0 |
| 1980 | 6 | #9,199 | 3.6 |
| 1979 | 7 | #8,122 | 4.4 |
| 1978 | 5 | #9,902 | 3.3 |
| 1976 | 5 | #9,414 | 3.4 |
| 1975 | 5 | #9,200 | 3.4 |
| 1974 | 9 | #5,806 | 6.1 |
| 1973 | 7 | #6,731 | 4.8 |
| 1972 | 7 | #6,624 | 4.6 |
| 1967 | 9 | #4,651 | 5.5 |
| 1964 | 6 | #6,065 | 3.2 |
| 1963 | 5 | #6,670 | 2.6 |
| 1960 | 8 | #4,798 | 4.0 |
| 1958 | 6 | #5,454 | 3.0 |
| 1956 | 6 | #5,355 | 3.0 |
| 1955 | 7 | #4,775 | 3.6 |
| 1954 | 5 | #5,808 | 2.6 |
| 1953 | 6 | #5,088 | 3.2 |
| 1952 | 5 | #5,617 | 2.7 |
| 1948 | 6 | #4,704 | 3.5 |
| 1947 | 9 | #3,725 | 5.1 |
| 1944 | 6 | #4,093 | 4.5 |
| 1943 | 5 | #4,748 | 3.6 |
| 1942 | 7 | #3,770 | 5.2 |
| 1940 | 5 | #4,417 | 4.4 |
| 1939 | 6 | #3,805 | 5.5 |
| 1937 | 7 | #3,468 | 6.6 |
| 1936 | 6 | #3,736 | 5.8 |
| 1935 | 6 | #3,794 | 5.7 |
| 1934 | 9 | #2,944 | 8.6 |
| 1932 | 7 | #3,600 | 6.6 |
| 1930 | 10 | #2,862 | 8.9 |
| 1929 | 5 | #4,626 | 4.5 |
| 1928 | 8 | #3,455 | 6.9 |
| 1927 | 12 | #2,713 | 10.1 |
| 1926 | 5 | #4,923 | 4.2 |
| 1925 | 9 | #3,391 | 7.4 |
| 1924 | 6 | #4,513 | 4.8 |
| 1923 | 6 | #4,427 | 5.0 |
| 1922 | 6 | #4,506 | 5.0 |
| 1921 | 13 | #2,648 | 10.5 |
| 1920 | 16 | #2,277 | 13.4 |
| 1919 | 8 | #3,493 | 7.1 |
| 1918 | 16 | #2,209 | 13.8 |
| 1917 | 7 | #3,754 | 6.5 |
| 1916 | 12 | #2,513 | 11.5 |
| 1915 | 12 | #2,398 | 12.2 |
| 1914 | 7 | #2,923 | 9.2 |
| 1913 | 8 | #2,354 | 12.8 |
| 1912 | 7 | #2,393 | 12.5 |
| 1910 | 6 | #2,168 | 15.1 |
| 1909 | 6 | #1,986 | 17.3 |
| 1908 | 5 | #2,141 | 15.0 |
| 1907 | 5 | #2,102 | 15.7 |
| 1906 | 6 | #1,752 | 20.3 |
| 1903 | 6 | #1,622 | 22.9 |
| 1902 | 8 | #1,332 | 30.3 |
| 1901 | 5 | #1,705 | 20.9 |
| 1900 | 5 | #1,961 | 16.7 |
| 1899 | 6 | #1,414 | 25.7 |
| 1898 | 10 | #1,105 | 38.6 |
| 1895 | 6 | #1,444 | 25.7 |
| 1894 | 9 | #1,068 | 40.4 |
| 1893 | 6 | #1,293 | 28.2 |
| 1891 | 6 | #1,229 | 32.3 |
| 1890 | 6 | #1,223 | 31.5 |
| 1888 | 5 | #1,300 | 28.0 |
| 1887 | 7 | #953 | 48.0 |
| 1883 | 6 | #830 | 53.4 |
| 1880 | 6 | #752 | 65.9 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Bena a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Bena has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 93 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Bena: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Bena, and how old are they?
An estimated 283 Americans named Bena and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (44% of everyone recorded); the median is 44 years old and half are between 17 and 63. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 479 people named Bena (458 women and girls, 21 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 284 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.7 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names spelled alike
Of these 6 names spelled alike, given to 1,707 babies since 1880, Bena is the most given (38% of them). In 2025 it was given to 7 of their 35 babies (20%), the second most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Bena
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Bena and names like it
- Compare Bena and BeunaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sBena peaked in 1918.
- Pennsylvania’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Bena since 1910.
- The top names of 1918The year the most babies were named Bena.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Bena alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with BMost given first.